CUA Law professor Mary Graw Leary'sOp-Ed: "Sentencing Reforms Need Voices From Victims" was published in the National Law Journal on November 2, 2015. See below.

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The Senate Judiciary Committee last month advanced, on a bipartisan basis, the historic Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015.

This act has been described as the most significant criminal justice reform in decades. It proposes to drastically alter the sentences of thousands of criminals, recalibrating the entire structure of our criminal justice system.

While the Judiciary Committee's recent move is good news for sentencing reform, the news about the process of this bill is more mixed.

It is critical that different stakeholders with distinct perspectives weigh in on this landmark legislation before it is passed. Yet, guess how many crime victims organizations were called to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee? Zero.

To be sure, it is a positive development that some policy makers have recognized that law enforcement needs to be included in any discussion of sentencing reform. There are many stakeholders in the criminal justice system.
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